The Snow Child

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey  

Summary from Goodreads

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.  

My Thoughts

  I finally have a few moments to be able to read and blog. This book is a wonderful read and has me excited to share my thoughts with all of you! First off let me say that I find it hard to believe that this is a debut book for the author. Her prose is beautiful and she can tell a story in a way that will keep the reader captivated throughout the whole book.

 This story is magical and it is a story I loved! Jack and Mabel tear at your heartstrings right off the bat. You can't help but feel for the couple who are grieving over the fact they are childless after losing their only baby. They go to Alaska to start over anew. When they build a snow girl in the yard, a young, wild girl miraculously arrives and finds her way into their hearts. The young girl, Faina, reminds Mabel of a fairy tale that was read to her when she was a child. She can't help but notice the similarities between the two young girls.

 Faina is a wonderful magical character and I really loved her. She is probably my favorite character in the book. Her carefree spirit really spoke to me.

 The Alaska setting is a character in itself in this story. You can tell the author is a native Alaska. Her descriptive writing makes you feel as though you are in Alaska yourself. I could almost feel the falling snowflakes!

 I highly recommend this book. Even though I don't have much time to read these days, this book kept haunting me until I found time to finish it. I couldn't wait to find time to pick it up and read it. I will definitely be watching to see what this author writes next!